Shadow Fallen
by Feral Geek
Summary: Original Character Fic.The daughter of 'Steve' happens across the flag team of Atlantis...stuff happens. Please, read and review.
1. Dark Planet

Title: Shadow Fallen

Author: Amie (AKA xdesolatedxsoulx, or feral geek)

Rating: Pg-13

Warning: Original Character, swearing, physical violence and thoughts.

Disclaimer: Zhara is my character, however the Wraith in general, and all of Stargate Atlantis belong to MGM and Gekko.

Summary: Steve's daughter happens across the flag team of Atlantis, stuff ensues.  
A/N: I suppose you can call it a gift fic, I had the idea hanging out in my head for a while, inspired by a cartoon I did. One of my lovely dA friends gave me enough of a prodding to actually write the thing. I hope it is enjoyed!  
Please, review.  
---

A slight shift in scenery.  
The entire world, or what they saw of it, looked like one of those Lisa Frank paintings that decorated so many Earth children's school folders; hot and wet with dense vegetation painted in colors so vivid it was sickening.

The air was muggy and reeked of tropical flowers, in itself disgusting enough, but then laced with the underlying taint of decay.

As a whole, it was so oppressive that even McKay kept his mouth shut, so the only sounds left were the low hum of insects, and of booted feet on rotting leaves.

A parody of your typical rainforest.

Guns were held at the ready, and the team moved in unison, each person pointed outwards, watchful.  
Something did not feel right.  
And nothing was.  
Aside from the bugs and the sounds the team made there was nothing.  
No birds or animals in the brush.

It was Teyla that made them finally stop, halting the team with a raised arm, the usually serene expression gone from her face.  
In hushed tones, she spoke the single word none of them wanted to hear; "Wraith."

Mutely they all looked at one another, and with a slight nod from Sheppard, they slowly gravitated outward, scanning the surrounding forest as they moved, every few minutes looking back to make sure they were all still together.

They spotted the small group of Wraith at once, and the Wraith seemed to notice them at the same moment.  
Six drones and one leader, a young looking female dressed in black.  
At the sight of the Lanteans, her face seemed to contort into a mask of pure hatred as she rushed the closest to her, Teyla.  
The others had to look away, occupied as the drones followed their leader.  
They were surprisingly easy to dispatch, and for a moment Sheppard was able to turn back to Teyla, who was about to fire on her attacker, and yell "Take this one alive."

They all knew why.

The retrovirus didn't work on Wraith females for some reason, and Beckett didn't have samples to work on to see if he could change the virus to affect them as well.  
Taking this one alive, could change that.

In response he got a nod, and in a slight lull in their fight, Teyla grasped one of the long branches that lay on the ground.  
The wood was slick and longer than she would have liked, but it was springy and wouldn't break when it struck her opponent.

The pair almost danced, moving in circles around one another, oblivious to the fighting around them as they traded blows.  
The Wraith was already at a disadvantage, limping slightly, the wood had slammed into her ankle, nearly sweeping her off her feet.  
However she refused to give up so easily, and moved in for another attack, seeing an opening.

It was a trap.

Once she was in range, the stick whipped up, striking the side of her skull, a cry of outrage escaping her lips as a wave of red engulfed her and she fell to the ground.

In relative silence Ronon placed his gun back in its holster, and looked over at Sheppard, "It was on stun" was all he said as they lifted their prisoner and carried her back to the gate.

--

Hours later and they were safe in Atlantis, de-briefed and with their new...friend...firmly ensconced in the brig, when Doctor Beckett called them, along with Doctor Weir, down to the infirmary.

When they were all assembled near his workstation, Carson turned to look at them, a rather odd expression on his face, excitement mingled with worry.

He wasted no time in getting to the point, "I discovered something interesting while I was comparing the DNA samples of the female with some of our older samples."  
Carson turned slightly, motioning to the computer behind him, connected to a projection screen so the assembled people could better view his discovery.

Hovering on the screen was a set of DNA samples, one above the other.  
For the most part, the group wondered what they were supposed to be looking for, but Rodney seemed to notice something, leaning closer as though standing closer to the projection would cause the answer to magically appear.

Atlantis' lead scientist looked like he was about to say something, but Carson beat him to it, gesturing to certain sections of the projected DNA, "There are a number of striking similarities between the new samples, and the samples belonging to the Wraith you named Steve."  
The last bit of that statement was clearly directed towards Colonel Sheppard, who nodded slightly, waiting for the other to get on with it.  
Which he did, glancing back to the projection as he spoke, Carson shrugged slightly, "Just looking at their DNA, I would say the two of them were very closely related, possibly parent and child...but I would run a paternity test, just to be certain, but I don't have those materials at the moment."

If any of them wondered how this information was important, they kept silent, waiting as the good doctor continued, "We already know that the Wraith have a surprising lack of females in their numbers, the fact that we have her might be an incentive for them to attack again."

Here John stepped in, "Not to mention the fact that we already took what may have been a high ranking member of their Hive..."

"Exactly" was Carson's reply, "We do know that they can't communicate mentally over such a distance, but it is possible that they sent some form of communication back to the Hive to report their distress."

Elizabeth nodded, "Better safe then sorry" she said almost absently, causing Carson to nod in return, "Aye, without the ZPM we need to make sure we're prepared for even the slightest possibility of an attack."

With that in mind, the group went their separate ways.

--

A few hours later, and it hadn't been confirmed that the new Wraith was indeed Steve's daughter, but if popular opinion was fact, then she was.

At the moment, she was fully alert, but with a throbbing sensation in her skull.  
Their healing ability was not wasted on aches and pains, and Zhara had the feeling that her head would be sore for the next few days.

She rested her head in her hands as the door slid open and flooded the room with light for a moment, causing her to blink up at the newcomer.

A human male.  
Her lip curled slightly as she studied him from her seat on the floor, a soldier, judging by the cut and coloring of his clothing, with maddeningly unkempt black hair and hazel eyes.

Zhara snorted softly and looked away.

Lanteans.

For the most part, she ignored him as he spoke to her, but her head turned back when he asked her name.  
They may imprison her body, but she would never let them have her name, her soul.  
The very essence of what she was.

Instead, her lips parted in a wide, wicked looking grin as she stood, and strode still limping, over to the bars of her prison.  
In a low voice, Zhara repeated the words she had heard her father say many times to an enemy before he ended their life, "I, am your death."

The human blinked, as though he had heard this before, and simply offered a smile that didn't reach his eyes, "I prefer...Sarah, do you mind if I call you Sarah?"

-TBC-


	2. Judgement

Title: Shadow Fallen Author: Amie (AKA xdesolatedxsoulx, or feral geek) Rating: Pg-13 Warning: Original Character, swearing, physical violence and thoughts. Disclaimer: Zhara is my character, however the Wraith in general, and all of Stargate Atlantis belong to MGM and Gekko.  
Summary: Steve's daughter happens across the flag team of Atlantis, stuff ensues. A/N: Please, review. Also, if you are reading this, and haven't read my other fics, check out 'Show No Fear' you might like it!  
---

Shift again. A girl child in a cage watches her captors in an unforgiving silence.  
Disregard that.

Reality.

The singularity hurls herself against the barred walls of the brig, into the force-shield over and over, systematically testing for weaknesses in the barrier until she collapses, the silence allowing soft voices to filter through the room.  
"If she keeps that up, the shocks could kill her"  
"Maybe that's what she's trying to do"  
Two males, human.  
"No" a face emerged from the gloom, the poor lighting adding a spectral tinge to his features. "She never hit the same place twice...she's trying to get out"  
Doctor McKay shook his head slightly, glancing over at the Colonel, "None of the other Wraith did that"  
Her eyes cracked open as she listened, watching the two men move closer to the bars.  
Once they were close enough, she dragged herself to her feet and flung herself at the barrier once more, startling her keepers with a flare of light, and a low groan.  
A ragged cry, "Release me!" as her knees buckled and once more she sank to the ground, eyes pinned accusingly on the pair.

"But they did that" those words were spoken softly, meant only for the other's ears.  
Then the voice rose, accompanied by a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, and in a pleasant tone that still came across as almost mocking...certainly cold, "Sorry...but no"  
To that, a silent response, lips moving slowly, head bowed as though in prayer.  
But the eyes that burned into the pair, made those silent pleas seem more like a curse on their heads, than any prayer.  
So she called upon the names of those long gone, a few of the Lantean's words drifting into the throbbing haze that was her mind.  
"She's not much like him...is she"  
Without looking up she could tell that the human was studying her the way one might study a particularly interesting insect, head cocked and eyes narrowed, as though confused.  
"Nah...but she probably would be one day."

Those were the words that made her head snap up.  
Yes, there had been Wraith in this cell before, standing before the humans to be judged.  
And now they judged her against one of her own kin.  
So she watched them with a new interest, struggling to focus on the softly spoken words.  
But soon she had to speak, finally voicing a question she did not expect to be answered.  
After all, she refused theirs.

"Of whom do you speak...who am I not like, but may be like?"

She frowned inwardly as the awkward phrasing, but left her face as blank as possible as she waited for a reply that may never come.

But to her surprise it came, after a long pause in which the pair of humans looked at one another, silently debating if they should tell her the truth.

In the end, they chose too.

"One of the first Wraith we captured, about two years ago..."

The dark haired male was speaking...she was sure that she had heard the name while he and his companion spoke...Sheppard...

The Lanteans had such strange names.  
Zhara shoved these thoughts from her mind as she listened to the man speak, absorbing all of the information and piecing it together slowly.

That was all the information she would get from Sheppard.

However, it was all she needed to make a swift calculation in her head, eyes narrowing as she contemplated the meaning of this new-found revelation.  
And she would have a great deal of time to contemplate this, as the two humans were called away, leaving her in something close to peace.  
--

A few more days of darkness, punctuated by bursts of light and needle pricks, before she had a chance to speak to a seemingly intelligent being.

Just like those among the Wraith, the Lantean guards did not speak…either they, like the Drones, were unable to speak, or they were under orders not to.  
They paid her no attention, and it infuriated her.

So when one of the Lanteans finally replied to her questions, she was somewhat startled.  
Then again, he was not dressed like the soldiers, nor did he look as though he would be any good at that sort of job.

She had seen his face before, just before the washes of red and paralyzing pain hit her.  
That stunner was so different from the ones her people used, instead of simply numbing the muscles, this one shot a wave of agony through her, burning through her nerve endings before she collapsed.

No wonder she had regarded him with a bit of suspicion, edging away from the font of her prison when the man in the white coat entered.

But when that wash of red never came, she began to ask the question, "Where is he"  
The human looked a bit on edge, eyes wide and bright even in the gloom, "Where is who"  
Zhara liked his voice, it was different and the words were nicely accented as well as soothing in a rather odd way…it was the sort of voice she would have liked to hear if she was scared or upset.  
If she was not in this cage, of course.

"The one who occupied this cage before me," she replied quickly, fearing that her time for questions might be short.  
"A number of people have been inside that cage…" the male replied, shrugging slightly as he waited for her to elaborate, "Two years ago…the one with the messy hair said…I am not like him, but will be like him…that one…where is he"  
The male's face seemed to take on a sorrowful expression as he replied gently, "He died…"

Zhara paled slightly, and her throat felt thick, suddenly feeling sick…that was not possible…perhaps she had made a mistake…maybe it was someone else…  
"I…" Zhara paused, and swallowed before continuing, "I should like to see his face…have you an image of him?" she glanced at the corners of the room, "You have surveillance technology in this room"  
He blinked at that, "Aye…there should be footage in the records"  
"Show me," there must have been a quiver in her voice, for the man looked hesitant, before her reached up to touch the communication device in his ear, speaking in a low voice to someone.  
---

A few more conversations over the communication device, and ten minutes later, the doors slid open again and another human entered, a file in hand.  
Zhara watched in silence as the door to her prison opened, and she stepped towards the opening, only to have the weapon that produced the red stunning blast leveled at her.  
That, and the sight of the file sliding across the floor and into her cell caused her to pause.  
Still in silence, she knelt and picked up the file, running her hand over the strange material before opening it, a familiar face greeting her as she did so.

For a few minutes the ill feeling returned, and she closed her eyes, breathing slowly as she removed the image and shoved the folder away, through the open door.  
"You are sure this is the correct one? He is dead?" she finally asked, looking through the bars.  
The man nodded, and she looked down at the picture, "Get out", she murmured.

He made his exit, and she didn't notice the sorrowful look that remained on his expression, to absorbed in looking at the face of a person she had not seen in so long, and would never see again.  
---

There would be no sounds from her cage save for one, in the early hours of the morning.

A low, keening wail would echo through the corridors surrounding the brig, sending chills down the spines of the people that walked them.

-tbc- 


End file.
